Kale, mushroom and pork stir fry

When I opened the veg box this week to find a big bag of dark green kale staring me in the face, I knew autumn had arrived. And I was stumped.

As the seasons change, I always feel like I’ve forgotten each one’s vegetables. And I’d totally forgotten what to do with kale (another good reason I’ve started this blog). So I googled kale recipes, and found this beauty from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Today was *supposed* to be a vegetarian day so I planned to switch out the beef for Portobello mushrooms, also in our veg box – until I realised there were only three in there… Luckily, we had a single pork chop lurking in the fridge so I threw that in to my adapted version. Not a vegetarian day in the end, but we managed not to waste the lonely chop and it wasn’t a lot of meat for three.

So how was it, without beef, without five-spice, and with mushrooms? Not at all bad, if I do say so myself. Give it a go, and let me know what you think!

Serves 3

What you’ll need

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 pork chop sliced into strips

1 small red onion

3-4 large flat mushrooms, sliced

200g kale, sliced

1 tbsp cashew nuts

A dash lime juice

3 nests of egg noodles

For the marinade

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 tsp finely grated ginger

1 small red chilli (optional)

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp allspice

1 tbsp brown sugar

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How to make it

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl, and add the sliced pork. Leave to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Heat up your work, and toast the cashew nuts. This will only take a few seconds, so keep the nuts moving. When toasted and crisp, set on one side.

Rinse your kale in a colander over the sink, then tip a freshly-boiled kettle of water over it so that it wilts. It’ll go bright green and tasty-looking.

Set your wok over a high heat once again, and add a spoon of oil. Use a slotted spoon to take the pork from the marinade, and place in the wok. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes, until browned.

Next, chuck in your red onion. Keep it moving, until the onion is softened.

Now cook the noodles according to packet instructions.

Meanwhile, add a spoonful of your marinade, then chuck in the kale. Keep everything moving around the wok, until the kale has wilted some more. This should only take a few minutes. Add more marinade if you need to, but remember that the kale will give up some of its liquid as it wilts, and you don’t want it to become soggy.

Remove your wok from the heat, add a dash of lime juice and sprinkle over the cashews. Stir once more, and check the seasoning.

Split the noodles between three bowls, pile the stir fry over the top and spoon on some juice from the pan.